Crusaders load up on conference honors

St. Mary's senior midfielder Rachel Raniele was named the District 4 player of the year, junior teammate Viv Juncal claimed goalkeeper of the year honors for a second year and the Crusaders' Dave Potter repeated as coach of the year.

St. Mary's senior midfielder Rachel Raniele was named the District 4 player of the year, junior teammate Viv Juncal claimed goalkeeper of the year honors for a second year and the Crusaders' Dave Potter repeated as coach of the year.

League champion St. Mary's finished 13-2-2 and fell to Oregon Episcopal, 1-0, in the Class 3A/2A/1A state semifinals.

On the boys side, senior midfielder Tracy Salgado and senior defender William Lee were first-team honorees for the Crusaders, who went 11-3-2 and lost to Oregon Episcopal, 2-1, in the 3A/2A/1A final.

Raniele (who had two goals and seven assists this season) and Barnum controlled the midfield all year long.

"What they do in combination off each other, creating opportunities for other players, can not be measured in a statistic," Potter said. "They just own the ball and the middle of the field. When you talk Rachel, you don't think in terms of goals scored. To me, she is my Carlos Valderrama."

Juncal was recognized as goalie of the year along with Hayley Livingston of Glide last fall and was valuable in a different way for the Crusaders this season, Potter said.

"Because of our defensive players, she didn't get to handle the ball with her hands much," Potter said. "She handled it with her feet. She became an integral part of our attacking system because we played it back to her quite often. Viv made no more than six saves all year. That tells you something about our defenders on our team ... we played the ball to her more often than anyone on the field."

"Those were the most solid four defenders I've had as far as skill and speed go since our 2003 state championship team," Potter said. "These four did everything right. They had a unity between them that was impenetrable."